This sketch formed a small part of the Rubens’ original design for the front facade of the temporary triumphal arch of the mint, installed in Antwerp to celebrate the formal entry of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria into Antwerp in 1635.  The entire composition is known from Rubens’ sketch of the complete facade which is in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp.  This preliminary sketch forms the lower righthand part of the entire composition as originally conceived by Rubens. A sketch of the lower left is also known, but this is in reverse and was sold at the Dorotheum, Vienna on the 19th October 1993, lot 137.  However, it appears that this particular element, the river god Maranon, was at a later stage transferred to the reverse, as indicated by the contemporary engraving of the whole. The subject itself of the reverse side contains numerous allusions to the power of money, such as the personifications of gold, silver and copper. The river God Maranon finally placed lower right is an allusion to the worldwide influence of Spain as the river Maranon itself is in Peru, then a Spanish possession.

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